MEOW!  You must submit previously unpublished poetry for our upcoming print issue. 

• Write up to 3 poems BUT they must be cat-themed or feline-inspired, for instance. it could be a poem about your cat, or if you don't own a cat — a poem about a cat object i.e. a cat keychain, a cat museum Egyptian sculpture or abstract meow painting, cat graffiti art on a wall, or a group of street cats that you photographed. 
• Title or nickname each poem. 
• Each poem should have a brief backstory paragraph on a separate page about 5-8 sentences.
• Each poem should have a few photos that you've taken yourself to choose from in the event we select it for print issues, online, or both. The photos should NOT include you in them as we only ask for profile photos after acceptance. 
• Please do not put any identifying information inside your document or file name.
   

We are only selecting 11 poems for our sub-section so it'll close quick if we hit our caps, but remember from time to time we select poems for the online tank and then may inform you about print selection if accepted. We'll determine if it'll go into online, print, or both if accepted. Contributors receive a private heavily discounted link to purchase the print issue and can share it with fam and friends and the issue will be available to read digitally online until the next release. We are no longer able to make first-time subs free over just our print calls so please follow our guidelines carefully. Take some time to scan our most recent issue in the READ section of our site -- issue no. 4 is a good example. 

If you're a photographer and are interested in donating photos to us or becoming a contributing photographer and have any that may fit an upcoming theme you can reach out to us via the contact form at the bottom of our staff page. You can also hop into our Discord or chat channel.
 

Please attach the written word or text version of our spoken word piece in addition to your podcast audio or video  submission so that we can follow along carefully.

Submit only one spoken word poem at a time. Our Founding Editor is no longer hosting episodes because we want to hear others more, so we are starting NEW video and audio submissions at dipity! Please bare with us as we're just starting the new video format option, but audio is still accepted too. If you haven't yet, listen to the Hummingbird Blink podcast on Spotify we've got over 100 episodes, but not all have poet spotlight interviews and we have just recently started Moon Milk which format is changing. We're going to try this on both podcasts to focus primarily on others poets voices. The podcasts are 100% free to listen to also. We recommend listening to some of our past interview episodes to get an idea of what we're looking for introduction-wise such as episodes no. 131, 129, 127, 126, 125, 124,113, 112, 111, 108, 107, 105 but remember your sub won't be in an interview format. Record yourself on your phone in video portrait mode or use your PC's built-in cam, the long horizontal sideways way not vertical or we may not be able to use your submission. Video [Optional] most poets use the Voice Memo app on their phone to record just audio-based submissions.

2. Say hi, state your name at least, and say Welcome to the  [just the name of the podcast you're submitting to] podcast.  The Hummingbird Blink: Nectar Poetry podcast.  An introduction of some kind doesn't need to be exact.

3. State for example "I'll be reading my poem" [the title of the poem] pause a few secs and then read the poem. ONLY these community podcasts and bonus shares sections allow previously published poems.

4. After the poem we want you to state why you wrote it briefly or the story of it to you in terms of meaning (OPTIONAL). 

5. You're totally welcome to share where others can grab more of your work, and upcoming publications or where to follow you on social media. Feel free to discuss what prompted you to start your poetry journey or why you love poetry too. Share fun facts or any information about yourself only as much as you're comfortable with. 

6. At the end of your recording please share your favorite song + artist in existence for others or share your favorite movie. You can state a thank you for listening or closing message too. 

Please appropriately credit any sources of inspiration too in your audio recording after reading.

7.  The recording should be no more than a maximum of up to or within 3 to 15 minutes and ONE POEM of any length. The poem can be previously published for our podcast calls. Please state where else your work if applicable was previously published, the year etc. if possible or page number if its from one of your poetry publications.

OR if you don't prefer video, then we recommend submitting only audio files following the same instructions

You are permitted to skip the backstory or behind the poem, but should still end your recording stating your favorite song and the artist/band or musician in existence for fun. Or if you can't choose a fave song or artist you can state one of your favorite movies or TV Shows in existence. Additionally, you may share a fave poetry collection that you love as well, and remember to share the author's name (spell out any names via individual letters) and include its publication year. Again a concluding thank for listening message is preferred for your audio or video submission.

Do note music will not be on these individual read episodes going forwards because we would like to distribute these beyond Spotify and out to Apple etc. However, we may add a visual video clip similar to our online features tank to accompany audio-only-based reads. Video can only be seen on Spotify at this time and the audio on Apple and elsewhere.

We welcome publication and interview Q&A first-person publication features through our Substack subscribers. 

You must answer ALL of the following questions in order to be potentially considered and featured on dipity's Substack. A few sentences within 5-8 will suffice for the Q&A. We like to include some fun questions.

1. What is your pen name or author name?
2. Where are you located in the world?
3. Submit ONE unpublished poem OR just ONE short story 1-2.5 pages for consideration.  Do not submit both. We want to see previously unpublished poems, but you may share only a previously published short or flash fiction piece letting us know where else it appeared. Please only share as much as you're comfortable with publicly sharing through our Substack newsletter if accepted. Poems should be left-aligned.
4. Submit the backstory of that poem or short story within at least within 5-8 sentences. 
5. When did you begin writing? or What or who sparked and inspired your writing journey? 5-8 sentences
6. Where can others find more of your work or what are some of your fave publications - please provide at least a few links? Max of 3-4.
7. What advice would you give aspiring poets, authors, or fellow writers in the community?
8. What else do you do outside of the writing or poetry community? or What else are you working on or excited about in the future? Any fun hobbies?
9. What are you currently reading? OR What book would you recommend to others right now? -  it doesn't have to be poetry or a collection....
10. What was the last movie or TV show you watched or recommend others see in the community?
11. What was your most recent publication or most recent publications 3-4 max?
12. Which poets, artists, or writers inspire you? 
13. If you were stuck on the moon with anyone or could pick your space flight partner who would it be —  it could be someone from the past or present time? OR You can answer: If you had the opportunity to portray any book character in the world and star in a movie adaptation of their life's story or another in a film who would you choose? Please share the character name, book title, and author of the book.
14. What's one of your favorite poems in existence? Provide 1 poem by another poet just the title and author name.
15. What is your website or share any social media handles? Do you have a Substack URL?

We will pair one or a few songs at the bottom of the spotlight. Feel free to give link suggestions or names from YouTube. No guarantees we'll use your song preferences.

Notes: We will also accept audio reads on our podcasts so you're welcome to submit your poem to our Hummingbird Blink podcast if it's accepted and choose the (I will be reading a poem I had published through Dipity Lit Mag option). We may need to adjust your formatting if it's accepted {preferably left align your poem} otherwise all other formatting may require us to screenshot it due to the finicky mobile reading view. We will always retain the original formatting if it is ever placed in one of our print series one day.

Follow dipity. productions on YouTube or Spotify. Here are previously unpublished audio examples of what we're looking for and what'll it look like [listen closely]. Also, if you dabble in music you're certainly welcome to add your guitar, piano, typewriter sounds etc. to your submission. For each accepted submission we'll also create a lyrics or written word video for fun.

We are starting a BRAND new spoken word community publication channel on streaming platforms for Dipity Literary Magazine. We recommend you listen to examples of a few spoken word artists if it's your first time tackling spoken word audio single or album tracks as well as the sample above.

A. This will mean we will generate an artist publication profile if you don't already have one on YT, possibly Spotify etc.that you can claim.

B. We will as of 11/14/2023 now cover one-time processing, and publication if accepted and be distributed on platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, iHeart, Tidal etc. 

C. Your audio can contain up to three previously unpublished poems, although one poem like our existing examples is preferred.  You can read one poem and discuss the backstory of it after reading it in your recording to meet the length requirement. If you are only reading one poem please DO STATE the title initially at the start with a few seconds pause then read. If your poem is longer in length then, you may totally not need to say the backstory to reach the 3-5 minute requirement. We welcome creativity if you want to add sound effects like you closing the door or ripping up newspaper pages at the end or start of your audio recording go for it. 

I will be reading my poem [title]. This next poem is [title] or called [....] My last poem is called [title] Do NOT state your name as it'll be on the cover art if selected and written ownership fields.

D. Your audio must be a single file recording and be at least 3-5 minutes long for publication not under that and cannot exceed 5 minutes, but be closer to 5 overall for successful categorization acceptance. 

E. Please attach 3-4 photos of yourself for us to pick from. If you prefer not having a photo then we'll simply use something else for a single cover for the spoken word soundtrack. Attach a Word.doc copy of your poetry read and the titles of each one. 

Please note we are not able to give royalty artist payouts to writers, but any generation from our channels will go towards our maintenance expenses, project funds as well as keeping dipity up and running and working towards paying writers for their poetry submissions in print and online. You however retain 100% publication rights over your written words (lyrics) and spoken poetry. You can claim your artist profile too separate from dipity. Please let us if you already have a spoken word or artist profile out on music streaming channels otherwise we'll help generate one on your behalf.